


a house of cards; with us in it

by baekjiheon



Category: The Ever Afters Series - Shelby Bach
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, House of Cards - Freeform, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Oneshot, This Is STUPID, a whole shit ton of bad parallells, i can't, i know i said i couldn't, i love you too liz, i should be working on my loong fic, if you squint not really hard, oooh boy, really feeling this love, shut up kay, tell me what is loooooove, yes this is bts, you can see D.O. too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 09:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6188716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baekjiheon/pseuds/baekjiheon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>she builds her fortress out of cards; flimsy ones, extravagant ones, but she never seems to have a full deck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a house of cards; with us in it

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lulla_lunekjaer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lulla_lunekjaer/gifts).



> ily2 liz
> 
> (title from Bangtan Boys' House of Cards)

She remembers when she first met Mildred Grubb, the kind friend who extended her hand to the cold-hearted new girl. She was reluctant at first to accept the friendship, but day by day she melted more and more into her friend’s warm embrace. 

 

She found solace in the friendship, a friend who would give up anything for her. A friend who would do anything. She took this all-doing ace of spades for granted, not thinking much about it. Looking back, she should have.

 

She remembers when she made her next friend, a peculiar boy who always sat under the Tree of Life stacking cards. Feeling bold one day, she sat down next to him and quietly introduced herself.

 

The boy beamed, sending her an inexplicably bright smile. “Hello Solange! I’m Wolfgang Sebastian Bruhm, but I don’t like my first name so you can call me Sebastian!” Solange didn’t know how a smile could gleam with such shine, and she ran back to the safety of her best friend. 

Mildred made her go back. The boy showed her many card tricks, how to guess a card, how to make a card disappear, how to “steal” a card from behind one’s ear.

Solange was quite sure that when she turned around, the boy stole one more card: her queen of hearts. She knew she no longer had a full deck.

 

* * *

 

“Mildred, do you know what is love? I think I know love.”

 

“Oh, really? Tell me what is love.”

 

“It’s like one of his tricks. You know that it’s a trick, but it just looks so real. It’s the same way with love. You can’t pin it down.”

 

“What if you’re mistaken, Solange? How do you know?”

 

“I… I don’t know.”

 

* * *

 

One day, when they were in the ripe spring of their teenage years, Sebastian was stacking cards again.

 

“Sebas, what are you doing?” Mildred leaned over, questioning. Solange mirrored her expression. “Yah, Bassie?”

 

“I’m building a card house!” Sebastian replied excitedly. “It keeps falling over, though.” His eyebrows furrowed into frustrated lines. 

 

“Why don’t you use glue?” Mildred suggested.

“Mildred, that’s silly,” Solange rolled her eyes. “That takes away the fun factor.”

 

They sat under the Tree again, while Sebastian stacked cards over and over and the duo of girls ate their afternoon snacks.

 

* * *

 

“I have an extra card, and I have no idea where to put it,” he said offhandedly, holding up a extravagant queen decorated with hearts.

 

“Oh? Give it to me then, I like the design.” Mildred tucked it into her purse.

 

Solange watched the exchange silently.

 

* * *

  
  


They were all grown up now, in their minds. Fifteen, and Tales were appearing here and there. Solange love to dote on her little sister, her ace of hearts, Rapunzel. 

 

“We have a mission to the Arctic,” Sebastian said dully. 

 

Mildred sighed. “For a  _ saltshaker _ , nonetheless.” 

 

The Arctic was a frigid place. They huddled together, breaths huffing. When they saw a hut on the horizon, no one thought better to check for safety. When they found their treasure at the destination, they thought even less.

 

Sebastian reached for it.

 

“ _ What are you doing, Sebas? _ ” Mildred hissed. Solange mirrored her look of incredulity. “ _ Yah, Bassie!” _

 

“Wait, Solange, you get it. You have long arms, then we’ll bolt, okay?” Sebastian looked extremely proud at his (stupid) plan.

 

Solange nodded anyway, ignoring the many logical fallacies. When Bassie said it would be okay, it would. But when the spell his Sebastian’s unmoving figure, Solange screamed.

 

It was not fine. Mildred held her until she calmed down, shielding her from the Arctic storm.

 

* * *

 

When they got back home with the Pinch Pot, Solange ripped through her belongings. Seeing the deck of cards Sebastian gave her for her tenth birthday made her even madder, and she tore the extravagant cards in half.

 

“Solange, what are you  _ doing?  _ Stop! You’re going to regret it later!” 

 

Solange ran to her friend, sobbing, the remnants of a card decorated with a heart and neatly printed A’s falling to the ground.

 

An Unwritten Tale was announced. Solange felt like she was forced to perform a card trick without a procedure.

 

She tried piecing the ravaged card back together.

 

“Nothing will last forever, you know?” Mildred told her.

 

She tore her Ace of Hearts,  _ her Rapunzel _ one more time, then framed its pieces as her sister bled out in the road.

 

* * *

 

She kept adding to her castle of cards. When a bold giant-killer came waltzing into her fortress, she added another card: a seemingly innocent Jack of Clubs.

 

When a troublemaker duo was reported to have jumped off the Searcasters’ beanstalk, she slipped in the two jokers.

 

Matilda and Jimmy were the King and Queen of Clubs. Their brute force was remarkable, but their side of the castle was balancing on an edge. Solange kept an eye on their tower, still refusing to use glue.

 

The whole Diamond suit were the Fey. They were set to the side, not to be disturbed.

 

Solange was satisfied. She was confident her castle would not fall, yet she was missing something, she knew.

 

* * *

 

She could see it now. The whole castle of cards she’d built was tumbling down, and she was trapped inside. She wished for her comforting ace of spades, and wondered when she’d lost her.

  
  


As the sky erupted in color when her heart was returned, she saw one figure in the distance as she felt the card flit around, the cutting edge of paper scratching her arms.

 

“Solange,” Mildred said, bloody from her encounter with the wolves, “I was the one who had it all along.” 

 

The extra card, the Queen of Hearts, blood-stained and dirty, crumpled at the edges but gold gilding still shining, tore through her castle. Solange yelled out, but Mildred only smiled. 

 

“I’ll meet you on the other side, alright?”

 

* * *

 

“Solange, do you know what is love? I think I know love.”

 

“Oh, really? Tell me what is love.”

 

“Love is like one of Sebas’ card tricks. You know it’s a trick, but you keep believing in it because it looks so real. It’s the same way with love. Even if you know someone has made many wrong choices, you still believe in them.”

 

“What if you’re mistaken, Mildred? How do you know?”

 

“I’m not, Solange. I have found it. Love is you.”

**Author's Note:**

> im still on writing brain farts and AO3 is blocked by school wifi i cry (IM AT HOME NOW!! ITS ALL GOOD!)


End file.
